Are Australians racist?
In my opinion, Australians are not racist, Australia is a truly multi-cultural country, however they do appreciate that all cultures present in the country interact with the rest.
How are Copts, Arabs and Muslims treated in Australia?
A question I get asked a lot is "Are Australians racist?" or "Do they treat Copts, Arabs / Muslims in a racist way .. especially after 9/11 and the Bali bombings? (The Bali bombings are considered Australia's own 9/11, Bali is a famous Indonesian resort and many Australians spend their vacations there, on October 12, 2002 a suicide bomber detonated a bomb in his backpack killing 88 Australians, the suicide bomber belonged to the JI or Jamaa Islameya).
Are all Aussies good?
This might seem to be a very simple question however I must always stress that just like any other nation, some Australians are good while others are bad, in general Australians do not judge others according to their religion, ethnicity, colour or sex.
History of racism in Australia
When Britain sent it's first settlers to Australia over 200 years ago they met with the aboriginals (the native Australians) due to the common sentiments of the time the new settlers treated the aboriginals as sub-human beings, they stole their land and forced them to move away from the towns, soon afterwards the settlers decided that the aboriginals needed to be cultured as Europeans and a law was passed giving them the right to seize aboriginal children from their families and force them to attend schools or work as domestic servants for the whites, this era was known as the "Lost Generation". Later on the Australian government officially apologized for these acts and the aboriginal community has been given many rights and recognized as the first inhabitants of Australia.
Another sad chapter of Australian history was the "White Australia" policy, which was a group of laws forbidding non-Europeans from entering Australia, this was applied in particular on people of African and Chinese heritage, however this policy was abolished in 1973.
Australians today are ashamed of this past and truly feel that the well being of Australia can only be achieved by embracing other different cultures to prosper.
